Super Bowl Sunday turned out to be quite and adventure.
Diane and I took a belated honeymoon to Maui just a year ago and, though we had a great time, I was not feeling 100% thanks to Crohns, and her mom, who was in the throes of leaving us, had just gone into final stages per her hospice workers.
We had reservations and had paid, so what were we supposed to do? Well, what we agreed was to go back when things were a little quieter. As it turned out, last November, my sister-in-law, Jill Hedgecock, found cheap tickets to Maui, so Diane jumped at it. At the time, I did not realize our February 4 departure date was also Super Bowl Sunday.
Our plane was departing from Oakland at 8 a.m., and with the time difference we were to land at 11:30, a full two hours before kick-off, Maui time.
What more could I ask for? Eric, Jill’s husband, and I could grab a pizza on the way to the condo we rented and be sitting in front of the tube a good 30 minutes before kickoff if all went right.
In fact, we landed a little early, but since there were six of us, and since Costco is right by Kahului Airport, we stopped for provisions. Diane and I finished our shopping first and headed out towards Kihei to the condo, still with an hour to go before the coin toss.
“I have to see if the place is cleaned” said the gentleman behind the desk at the office managing the condo complex.
“You knew we were checking in and you don’t know if it is clean yet?” I retorted, somewhat briskly.
“I’ll check with the owner,” he replied while I somewhat urgently added, “we have a bunch of food we bought in the car and it is hot outside so we need to get it in a fridge.”
“Well,” he said, “if the cleaners are there you can put it in the fridge.”
“What if they are not there?” I asked.
“Then you have to wait till 3 p.m., check-in time,” he said.
“OK, I will go over and see if they are there, Can I please get the code to the front door? We are already pre-paid.”
“Oh, I cannot give you the code till 3 p.m.,” he replied.
“So, irrespective, I have to wait till 3 p.m. to get into the unit?”
“Yes,” he said, causing my head a bit of a spin trying to figure out why it was so difficult to obtain this apparently simple piece of crucial information.
So, with nice Lindsay and her friend Tate in tow, we shot back up to a place — Nalus — where I could watch the first half and get a Poke Bowl.
It was there the score went 3-0 and then 9-0 and so on to the end of the first half, and I scarfed my bowl of Ahi and avocado, with masago and kim chi, and the half ended about 10 minutes to 3, Kihei time, so back we trudged to the registration office.
This time, the guy in the office — who was the same gentleman I had already encountered — was as right as rain, welcoming me with complementary tangerines, noting the golf tourney set for Wednesday, giving me the directions to park near the condo and asking if there was anything we needed.
Justin Timberlake was still kicking it out as we got into the apartment, and I stashed a few things but turned on the tube right away so I could at least keep track of things. Which was tough as the game fantastically went back and forth on the field as we went back and forth between both of our cars, fetching luggage, diving gear, golf clubs, camera bags and laptop packs from the car and up the stairs.
Finally, as the fourth quarter was beginning, I was settled and the rest of the family decided to go out snorkeling, so suddenly I had my internet access, a quiet room, a bottle of fizzy water and some fresh pineapple to munch and the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl in front of my eyes. Oh, yeah, I could look out the window and see those swaying palm trees and the gorgeous pacific where every once in a while — off in the distance — a whale would breech.
All was well till the Eagles went ahead 38-33 with a little over two minutes left, as we all know how distracting two minutes and five points are to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
But the karma of the Seahawks and the Falcons came home to roost, literally, for the Eagles, who pulled one sack with one turnover at the most opportune time of the game.
I was, I suppose as were we all, stunned. Speechless. Flabbergasted.
In the end, I cannot say I watched the entire game in Hawaii, but I did see that final quarter and, like you, I was indeed bowled over in the best of ways.
Tune into the Tout Wars Hour on the FNTSY network, hosted by me, with Justin Mason and featuring Lord Z every Sunday, 2-4 PM ET/11 AM-1 PM PT, and you can follow me @lawrmichaels.
